"Mum, I don't want to die": Schoolboy left with

A schoolboy has been left with an above-the-knee amputation following a hit-and-run while cycling home. Zach Michaels, 15, was riding his bike home from his grandmother’s house on December 22, 2024, when a speeding car “mowed him over.”

Despite being on a residential street, his mother, Maria Michaels, 43, claims the car was travelling at 70 miles per hour, leaving Zach in a “heap” on the ground.

The teenager will spend the next year in rehabilitation after sustaining open fractures, a punctured lung, and an above-the-knee amputation on his right leg. Maria, a nurse from Kirby, Merseyside, said: “Zach is an amazingly brave boy.”

“It’s going to be a really, really long time before he’ll be discharged from hospital. He’s got his amputation wound which will need healing, his fractures and tendons need to heal. I can’t even think that far ahead, right now.”

On December 22, Zach had left his gran, Irene Martin, 70, and began the short journey back to his mum’s house.

Shortly after setting off, while cycling down a school lane, he was hit by a speeding car. Local residents heard the impact and rushed to provide blankets and assistance, as well as calling emergency services.

“They alerted my mum, who told me and my partner,” Maria said.

“We got in the car and drove down – by the time we got there, the police had already arrived.

“Zach’s body was just contorted; the shape he’d been left in didn’t look normal.

“He was fully conscious the whole time, and he just kept saying: ‘Mum, mum, I don’t want to die.’

“Paramedics had to stabilise him in the middle of the road, because it was the safest thing to do – he had bones protruding from his body.”

Once Zach was stabilised, he was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, and sent straight to theatre. His injuries included open fractures to the right leg, a fractured spine and ligament damage to the neck.

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He had to undergo a different surgery every day, over seven days – resulting in an above-the-knee amputation on his right leg.

“It just got to a point where that leg had no blood supply,” Maria added.

“Eventually the doctors said: ‘We’ve tried everything we can, and we’re going to have to amputate.’ It was absolutely heartbreaking.

“I’ve never done anything in my life as hard as signing that consent form – but he would’ve died if I hadn’t.”

Two days after his amputation, Zach was taken off his ventilator and began to regain consciousness. His parents waited until he was lucid to explain to him about his leg.

When Maria and ex-partner Chris Farr, 39, told Zach about the amputation, he began “begging for his leg back.”

She said: “He was begging us for his leg back, and begging to come home. He said: ‘Please, please, I don’t want to be here.’

“It wasn’t until yesterday [January 4], that this brave boy asked to see his leg for the first time. He looked at the stump, and he had a cry.

“But later on, he said: ‘Right, I’m just going to do this and get on with it,’ just like the old Zach.”

Doctors aren’t sure how long Zach will be under hospital care for – his recovery could take months. As well as rehabilitation on his right leg, Zach may need to learn how to grip with his left wrist again, due to tendon damage.

His aunt, Shemina Wright, has set up a JustGiving page for his recovery.

The crowdfunder has raised £6,153 so far – and will be donated towards accessibility equipment for when he is discharged.

You can donate to Zach’s fund here.

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